A Fair and Balanced book on the war in Viet Nam
I'm a history/education major who is currently taking a course in graduate school that compares and contrasts the Viet Nam war with the current war in Iraq. The class has truly opened my eyes to the myths that still persist today about the Viet Nam war. As I read through the posts on this film's board as well as other Viet Nam films, I cringe at the ignorance and complete and utter denial that still exists about this war. The bottom line is..you can't get a truly fair and balanced view from Hollywood about this war (outside of choice documentaries, the Vietnamese perspective is all but non-existent) and middle and high school curriculum's rarely go in depth about the war because it's still considered a touchy and polemic subject and by the time June rolls around there isn't much time left to cover it.
So instead of getting into embroiled arguments with former military personnel or children of Viet Nam vets about myths and facts about the war, I will recommend this text:
Cultures in Conflict: The Viet Nam War by Robert E. Vadas
Here are some reviews of the text:
This resource is a solid and even-handed treatment of a potentially explosive topic....The title is so outstanding as a standalone piece, reference work, or book discussion choice that it is highly recommended for all public, middle school, and high school libraries.
—VOYA February 2003
a scholarly discussion and an informative retrospective of the Vietnam War, especially in term of its long-lasting policy and cultural repercussions in both America and Vietnam. Highly recommended as being a broadminded, fair-handed study of the forces shaping the war and the scars left behind in their wake, Cultures In Conflict is enhanced for both scholarship and the non-specialist general reader with appendixes offering the text of Ho Chi Minh's declaration of independence and his letter to President Harry S Truman.
—Th Midwest Book Review October 2002
These reviews and others can be found at http://www.greenwood.com/catalog/GR1616.aspx
You can also buy the book on Amazon or see if your local library can obtain it through interlibrary loan!